1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hand tool for restoring roundness in the ends of a pipe coupling, fitting or piece of pipe formed of a relatively soft metal such as a copper.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Plumbers who install water lines generally employ readily available means for restoring roundness to copper pipe and copper couplings. What this means is that they make do with tools which are not intended for that purpose such as screwdrivers for use as mandrels and the hole in a crescent wrench for use as a die. Insofar as known, there are no special tools in common use for this purpose. Similar problems may be encountered by workmen installing other pipe lines wherein the material selected or the wall thickness render the pipe or the pipe couplings deformable under common handling conditions.
In a joint between a pipe and a coupling, the pipe should be round on its outside surface at the open end, whereas with a pipe coupling it is the inside surface that is important. For this reason, the tools needed to restore roundness in a pipe are generally different from those needed for a coupling.
While neither pipe nor pipe couplings are particularly expensive, a workman""s time is costly. Rounding out a pipe or coupling with tools not intended for that purpose or locating another coupling that is not bent is a poor use of a skilled plumber""s time. It would therefore be desirable to have a tool for restoring roundness in a coupling that is designed for that purpose, preferably a tool that could be used for restoring roundness in a pipe also. It would further be desirable if the tool was combined with some other tool that a workman needs to carry anyway, like a wrench, pipe cutter, etc.
In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a tool for restoring roundness to a pipe or coupling, eliminating the difficulties in using tools not designed for that purpose. It is another object to provide a tool for restoring roundness to a pipe or coupling that can be incorporated into another necessary tool, thus eliminating the difficulties associated in carrying a multiplicity of tools. It is also an object to provide a tool permitting the rapid rounding out of a pipe or pipe coupling with a minimum of effort making a more economical installation of water lines or the like possible. Other objects and features of the invention will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.
In accordance with the invention, a hand tool for restoring roundness in an open end of a pipe coupling has a body with a series of sections of non-concentric grooves of increasing diameters separated by ridges beginning with a first ridge.
The grooves in the body are adapted to receive a range of different sized pipe couplings, with the groove having the smallest diameter forming an annular space partially bordered on the inside by the first ridge. The first ridge has a length substantially equal to an internal diameter of the open end of the smallest coupling to be rounded, each successive groove of increasing diameter forming an annual space partially bordered on the inside by the first ridge and by a successive ridge. In use, a pipe coupling to be restored to roundness is slipped over and rotated in one of the grooves, any ridge bordering the inside of the groove serving as a mandrel and any ridge bordering the outside of the groove serving as a die.
The invention summarized above comprises the constructions hereinafter described, the scope of the invention being indicated by the subjoined claims.